Starbird Carries Stanford To 70-57 Win Over Ducks

Kate Starbird, a sophomore academically, has already become the senior partner of the Stanford offense.

With Starbird scoring 18 points and reserve Rachel Hemmer adding 13, third-ranked Stanford beat Oregon 70-57 Thursday night in Pacific10 Conference women’s basketball.

“She makes great plays for us all the time,” Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer said. “She made a few tonight.

“It wasn’t her best game. I thought she was rushed a little bit at times, but you can see how important she is to us.”

Starbird is a graduate of Lakes High, near Tacoma.

“I thought our kids played hard,” Oregon coach Jody Runge said. “We came out and put the press on and gave them some trouble and made them shoot the ball with very few seconds left on the shot clock, but they were making them. They’re a very good basketball team.”

Starbird scored 13 points in the first half to get Stanford started to its 15th straight victory. She made 5 of 10 3-point attempts.

Stanford (8-0 Pac-10, 17-1) led 41-32 at halftime, hitting 44 percent from the field.

Oregon fell to 4-4, 11-6.